This is truly one of the best pesto recipes I’ve ever made. The nutritional yeast adds a nutty flavor to the pesto that balances the sharpness of the pine nuts. I have few recipes actually memorized, this one has made the cut. And, especially now that my Aerogarden is growing basil like gangbusters I’ll need to “go to” recipe so nothing goes to waste.

I made the pesto a couple days before I used it on the tomatoes. It held up nicely in the refrigerator. Just let it come to room temperature before putting it under the broiler otherwise you’ll have some burnt panko and cold pesto to bite into.

A couple thoughts about the rest of the recipe…the tomatoes can be made easily in the toaster oven. No need to heat up your whole kitchen just for a few tomato halves. I must also note, the tomatoes I used were a little too big which meant a lot of fork and knife action to get manageable pieces. I think next time I’m going to make these as little bite-sized versions using campari tomatoes. If you’re looking for a main dish, I’d suggest perhaps going for making a bunch of these using plum tomatoes or find actual medium-sized tomatoes.